Women's Rugby | 10/11/2025 10:43:00 PM
The York University Lions women's rugby team travelled to Waterloo to face the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday afternoon in the OUA quarter-finals. This was the Lions first playoff appearance since 2019 after a 3-3 regular season that saw the program earn its most wins since that 2019 campaign. It was also the second matchup of the season between the two sides, who met in the season opener on Aug. 30 at Alumni Field. The Lions entered play looking to avenge a 59-28 loss to Laurier in that opener.
Audrey Gill had the first try of the game to give the Golden Hawks an early 7-0 lead just over 15 minutes in after the convert from Abby Tape. York responded with a try of their own four minutes later, as Alanna Mrkobrada crossed the try line and Abby Spiteri completed the conversion to tie it. Laurier got two more unanswered tries courtesy of Bridget Maxwell and Natalie Madill, who converted her own score, to end the first half with a 17-7 lead.
York had the first points of the second half on a Mistura Are try and a convert by Kristina Jacob to make it 17-14. They took then the lead at the 10:20 mark of the half thanks to a Ronnie Umbres try, which Spiteri converted to put the Lions up lead to 21-17.
The Lions could not hold on, however as Madill put the ball down to make it 22-21 Golden Hawks just three minutes later. Then, with just over 20 minutes remaining, Laurier's Audrey Gill added to the lead, to make it 27-21.
The Lions, they were unable to find the go-ahead try, and dropped a hard-fought competitive game 27-21, seeing their season come to an end in the quarter-final.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will look to build on the tremendous growth they've displayed this year as they look ahead to the 2026 season with an eye on returning to the postseason and earning a playoff victory.
